Strength training involving resistance exercise is useful for building strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of skeletal muscles. When properly performed, strength training can produce significant health benefits, including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength and toughness, improved joint function, reduced potential for injury, increased bone density, increased metabolism, and improved cardiac function and mobility.
There are many types of resistance training equipment, and each has advantages and disadvantages. Some are more appropriate for home gyms, and others are better suited for public gyms. The biggest difference between the many types of resistance training equipment is the means by which they provide the resistance that is crucial to effective resistance training. The different types of resistance training equipment include free weights, weight machines, and resistance bands or tubes.
The most common form of resistance training equipment is free weights. This form of weight training equipment consists of some combination of dumbbells, barbells and weight benches and racks. Although the weights of some dumbbells are adjustable, fixed weight dumbbells are more common, requiring a large collection of them to facilitate a wide array of exercises.
Free weights have several distinct advantages and disadvantages. Free weights are effective for resistance training because they are inherently unstable, requiring the athlete to balance the weight during lifting thereby engaging the body's stabilizer muscles. As a result, free weights can provide for advanced, high-intensity strength training and can improve mobility. However, it can often be difficult to maneuver free weights into the proper position for lifting. As a result, free weights require additional equipment for proper and safe use, including racks and benches.
Unlike free weights, resistance bands and resistance tubes require far less equipment and can be much easier to use. Rather than requiring an extensive amount of equipment, resistance bands and tubes provide athletes with a variety of different levels of resistance simply by shortening or lengthening the band or adjusting the tube. Also, an athlete can reposition a single band or tube in a variety of ways in order to perform different lifts. However, resistance bands and tubes cannot provide high levels of resistance that free weights can provide. Resistance bands must stretch in order to provide the desired resistance and there are some angles of resistance that bands cannot provide, which limits their use.
Another form of resistance training equipment is weight machines. This form of weight training equipment can provide the same high levels of weight that free weights provide, all while tending to maintain proper lifting form. The drawback to weight machines is that each machine usually can allow an athlete to perform only one or two exercises. To get a complete workout, an athlete would need access to a large number of machines, which makes them ill-suited for most home gyms.